6 documentaries on Netflix that will make you smarter

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They don't call it the Netflix "library" for nothing. Netflix has a wide range of titles that take complex issues — the food industry, homelessness, sweatshops — and breaks them down in accessible, interesting ways.

The reason these are the best of Netflix's many "brainy" entries is they all share a multifaceted approach — looking at the economics, social, and cultural angles of each problem while also keeping us tied to a single, compelling narrative.

Six incredible, stimulating documentaries, all streaming on Netflix, will make you smarter by not just introducing you to new ideas, but complicating each idea and revealing their many connections to the world at large.

"Bottled Life: Nestlé's Business with Water"

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The business of bottled water can seem strange: Water is everywhere. so why should we have to pay for it? But sadly, water's abundance is a myth. As "Bottled Life" reveals, more children in the developing world die from drinking contaminated water than from conflict, traffic accidents, or HIV.

Clean water is a matter of life or death for millions, but Swiss company Nestlé, the worldwide leader in selling bottled water to the global poor, makes millions as people across the globe exhaust their few resources for mere sips of water.

Rethink water, poverty, and the surprising international consequences of something as simple as bottled water in this documentary.

"Lost Angels: Skid Row is My Home"

Netflix

Can justice exist in a place like Skid Row?

This documentary takes viewers to Skid Row, Los Angeles, an extremely impoverished area in downtown LA with a huge number of homeless people. Mixing interviews with activists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, as well as Skid Row residents themselves, "Lost Angels" humanizes the people that society would rather forget: criminals, the mentally ill, drug addicts, and the homeless.

What exactly causes widespread homelessness and drug addiction? "Lost Angels," if nothing else, helps viewers understand exactly the scope of such a question. The documentary looks at how an exploding population of the unemployed led to a city of strife.

Rampant unemployment and extremely cheap substandard housing led to an underground economy of drugs and petty crime. Attempts to "clean up" the area led to widespread arrests. But those arrested, once released, would only return to Skid Row with even fewer job prospects and little else to do but continue the cycle of petty crime. Learn what brings a city to its knees, and what might save it, in "Lost Angels."

"The Square"

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"The Square" follows the 2011 Egyptian revolution against then-president Hosni Mubarak in Tahrir Square. A site of huge cultural and religious significance, Tahrir Square was the site of violent clashes between soldiers, demonstrators, revolting citizens, and pro-Mubarak forces.

Winning three Emmy awards and an incredible 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the documentary remains tightly focused on Tahrir Square itself and its status as an essential part of the Egyptian identity. Any student of history should enjoy how "The Square" presents audiences with a nuanced, prismatic look at a radically changing national identity.

"Fed Up"

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This 92-minute documentary emphasizes sugar's effect on the body with perky, bright infographics and interviews with nutritionists and scientist. Soft drinks are highlighted as especially problematic, as Americans are now drinking their calories at a faster rate than ever.

But "Fed Up" doubly emphasizes how dangerous sugar is by pointing out how ignorant we are of its effects. There are heartbreaking interviews with overweight children and their parents, clueless why diet and exercise aren't helping the kids lose weight. One such child is a 14-year-old considering gastric bypass, a highly invasive surgery.

One parent, when asked how she's helping change her son's diet replies that she's feeding him healthier meals: serving him lean Hot Pockets instead of regular. It's a sad illustration of how little we know about what we eat.

"Food Chains"

Netflix

As a counter to "Fed Up," "Food Chains" reveals that eating vegetables has its own costs. The documentary follows migrant workers as they rally for higher wages. Farm owners pay migrant workers well below minimum wage to pick America's vegetables.

The opening scene follows a married couple on a day working in the fields. It begins at 5 a.m. when the pair drop their young son off at the babysitter. From there, they ride buses to fields of corn and tomatoes and pick fruit literally from sunrise to sunset, losing nearly half their payment for the day if they don't meet their quotas.

Their payment for a full day of hard labor: $40.

"Food Chains" investigates a number of culprits in the exploitation of migrant workers: farmers, the supermarket industry, immigration control, and consumers themselves. Looking at both the economy of food as a whole and the individual lives of workers shows how multi-layered and complex food politics are.

"The True Cost"

Netflix

How much did your shirt cost? How about your pants and your shoes? "The True Cost" answers the question of "cost" not in dollars, but in human lives. Workers in places like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and Cambodia are, at best, woefully underpaid for their labor. One woman reports a salary of $10 a month for 50 hours a week of labor.

At worst, clothing costs thousands of lives.

"The True Cost" investigates the Rana Plaza Disaster, the 2013 clothing factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 people. Even more distressing, workers complained of cracks in the building's foundation in the days leading up to the collapse, even hours before it fell: They were told they'd lose a month's pay if they refused to come to work.

Rethink clothing and its "real price" with this challenging, insightful documentary.